2015 – Best of the Year, Month by Month: May

2015 has been a great year for music. So many good albums, songs and new bands. Here are the things I loved from May‘s releases. The ones I loved the most are marked with a red ||. Lots of albums this time.

Azure Blue – Beneath the Hill I Smell the Sea || Beautiful, airy synth-pop album from Sweden’s Azure Blue.Bill Wells/Aidan Moffat – The Most Important Place in the World || I’m a fan of Wells. I’m a fan of Moffat. Can’t go wrong. Dark, poetic, beautiful music.Cheerleeder – The sunshine of your youth || Very nice guitar based indie album.Death & Vanilla – To where the wild things are || Finally, they released an album, and it is good, mysterious, fun, weird, spacy, melodic, beautiful.Eskimeaux – O.K. || This would probably be among the top 3 if I made a proper Best of-list. So amazingly good from start to finish. Sometimes folky, other times more “indie”, but always very, very interesting. Great melodies and lyrics.Froth – Bleak || Another big favourite for me. Brilliant songs. Out on Burger Records.Hisser – Hisser || This is a really, really good electronic pop album. Sometimes noisy, sometimes very calm and melodic. Interesting. Often very beautiful.Hop Along – Painted Shut || Rough and jangly the Pavement way, with a very expressive and raw female vocalist.Jacco Gardener – Hypnophobia || A bit 60s inspired psychpop, lovely melodies.Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter || JG are usually a bit too raw and aggressive for my taste, but there are some wonderful pop-moments on this one.Juan Wauters – Who me? || I love this one, and most of what Wauters do and have done, also in his earlier band The Beets. This is an unusual album for Captured Tracks, since it’s more folky songs in the style of Jonathan Richman than what they usually release.Landshapes – Heyoon || Since I loved their more folk-oriented music in their previous band Lulu and the Lampshades, I first was a bit disappointed in this noisier indie version. It has definitely grown on me, and I really like this album.The Mayberries – Grown men || Twangy guitars, gorgeous and calm vocals, brass, lovely harmonies, nice melodies. This is a great album, and some of the songs, like the fabulous “Lock and key”, are outstanding.Nocturnal Sunshine – Nocturnal Sunshine || I don’t like all of it, especially when they start pitching the vocals, but a lot of it is very comfortable, interesting electronic pop, with a tiny bit of suiting darkness added.Novella – Land || Cool album with lots of good songs. Love the harmonies. Reminds me a bit about Lush.Other Lives – Rituals || Soft – and strong – vocals, calm atmospheric music, very pop and very much not pop, very interesting arrangements – and a very pleasant listen.Pas de Printemps pour Marnie – Cover me || I discovered this band years ago through their albums of covers of My Bloody Valentine and Bee Gees, and it is so nice to see that they make equally beautiful music when they do their own songs. Very nice album.Paul de Jong – IF || If you like The Books, you’ll like this. Former The Books’ member Paul de Jong continues in the same territory on his new album, and it sounds very interesting.Various artists – Remembering Mountains, the songs of Karen Dalton || I love Karen Dalton’s music so much and this album is full of wonderful artists covering her. Sharon van Etten, Julia Holter, Diane Cluck, Isobel Campbell etc.. Need I say more?Siv Jakobsen – Lingering || Beautiful, mostly acoustic debut from Norway’s Siv Jakobsen. Some absolutely stunning songs on this one, and I can highly recommend it. Good for the dark days and nights during winter time.Tripwires – Watermelancholia || Great psych-pop/dream-pop album.Valet – Nature || Here comes another of my big favourites this year. It’s a gorgeous album. Style? Difficult to put them anywhere, but probably next to your Stereolab albums or in the dreampop genre. Probably. LOVE the artwork.Virgin Suicide – Virgin Suicide || Great new indiepop band from Denmark. Features members of Cape Canaveral. Very nice debut album, with clear 60s inspirations and jangly guitars.

SINGLES I LOVED THIS MONTH

Hanging Stars

Briana Marela – Surrender || One of my finest discoveries in 2015. Love her music, and she can make the most catchy be so musically interesting.Bully – I remember || Angry vocals, full power, still very catchy and melodic. Makes the teen in me want to jump around.Eternal Summers – Gold and stone || One of the many great singles on their album. Brilliant, dreamy indiepop.Farao – Hunter || Norway’s Farao made a lot of fine music this year. Her vocals are so good!Ghostly Kisses – Never Know || So beautiful. Reminds me a bit of bands on Morr Music, with really dreamy, lovely female vocals.Girlpool – Before the world was big || Very simple, yet so powerful. The chorus is so good.Gwilym Gold – Breathless || Piano driven electronic song, dark, with great, soulful vocals.The Hanging Stars – Golden Vanity/ Floodhound || Another example of my psych pop love this year. These are two very harmonic, melodic songs, and I love them both.Hinds – Davy Crockett || I like this mostly because it is so obvious that they are having so much fun playing. Not an amazing song, but I feel the musical energy and love they share with their music, and that is very nice. I like Hinds a lot for this fun energy they share.Manatee – Logistics || There are several bands named Manatee, and I like several of them. This is bouncy indiepop with boy/girl vocals, glockenspiels and catchy text-lines.Oscar – Beautiful words || The other good song on his album.Son Lux – You don’t know me || Son Lux hits me hard in the heart with some of his songs, and other times I don’t get it. This time, I am hit hard. Lovely song, lovely lyrics.The Sun Days – Busy people ||Another good single from these Swedes. The album that came later was also outstanding. I tried to dislike these guys for stealing the name of one of my favourite bands, The Sundays, but had to give in. This is just too good to dislike.

EPs I LOVED THIS MONTH

Low Roar

Flyying Colours – Roygbiv || 5 very strong shoegaze/dreampop songs.Frankie Forman – Hootch EP || It hits me straight in the heart with all its feelings and emotions. Beautiful EP. Folky.Hippo Campus – Bashful Creatures || Another band I listened quite much to this year. Not easy to describe, but “indie” is probably most suitable. Out on Transgressive records.Les Big Byrd – Stockholm death star || Krauty psych pop that really drags you in. Brilliant EP that also have some wonderful pop harmonies.Low Roar – Remix EP || I love Iceland-based Low Roar’s calm, beautiful songs, and these remixes captures that feeling + adds another dimensions to the songs. Very listenable, consistent and interesting.